Friday, July 31, 2009

Swiss Straw Experiment

Well, I finally have the Table-top almost finished and here is the photo and extra notes on working with this stuff. I decided while working on the table-top that it would be a shame to put cardboard or plastic under it because it would loose the lacy look. So i decided to use florists’ covered wire to re-enforce the stability and encourage a flat table top. so….

furniture 011b

for rounds 7 & 12 and requires piecing the wire on round 12. I also based the circle on a beginning of 7 sc in 2nd ch from hk. and worked the next 2 rows as 2 sc in each st. and went form there. 11 rows of single crochet made a 6 inch circle.

The border (rnd 12) I changed to: sc in joining, sk 2, open fan shell of [dc, ch 1, dc, ch 2, dc, ch 1, dc] in next st, sk sts, sc in next st, rep around sl st join to first sc and fasten off.

The wire has to be pieced and overlapped; this is a little tricky. The straw does no cooperate very well and has to be made to behave quite frequently and add to that the extra wire…well you can see it is not a very long piece that is required. And trimming the length of the wires after you are done is best.

It is easy when finished to fold down the edging and have it old it’s shape though. That is a plus and if you have to block it a little to hold have the table top perfectly flat then spray with a fine spray, not too much, on both sides. This stuff get really weird when wet and you don’t want to lay anything on it to the natural texture of the stitches will disappear. Do not pull on it to much either; pull gently on opposite sides rotating the circle till the circle is perfectly shaped and let dry on flat surface.

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